I do not consider myself an expert by any means when it comes to gardening and dealing with pests, but I have had my share of dealing with them. Remember when I had ants move into my garden bed? That was not pretty!

Suffice it to say, I had gotten a little smarter by the time I found these bad little guys on my broccoli and chollards:

See all those little balls on my plant? They’re aphid eggs, and we had a swarm of little aphids all over my plants. They just decided to have themselves a little party and enjoy the garden plenty that I toiled over.

Well to be a true organic gardener (as best I can be anyway), I use a powder called Diatomaceous Earth. I picked up a gallon of this powder from a local farmer for $8 last fall, but have not been using it consistently. This resulted in what you see in the photo above.

Diatomaceous Earth is organic, food-grade and does not harm humans. Although it can irritate the lungs and eyes, so it’s best to just be careful with it when spreading it around in the garden. It works, because it is “the fossilized remains of microscopic shells created by one celled plants called DIATOMS. Diatomaceous Earth kills by physical action, not chemical, by puncturing the insect’s exoskeleton and absorbing its body fluids, thus posing no harm to warm-blooded life.”

It also repels insects, so I use this as a natural flea control for my pets, and at the entry ways in my house to keep out ants. You know those tiny black ants that try to get into the kitchen when the weather warms up? Yes it works for these too, but won’t poison your family or the food in the kitchen.

The only thing about using this product is that you need to be consistent. It’s not like a chemical, but who wants that anyway? The rain and wind will wash and blow this away, so it’s best to consistently use it for at least a week if you have an infestation, and then maybe once every week or so to prevent further pests.

I recommend finding a local supplier of Diatomaceous Earth, as you will get it a lot cheaper than if you try buying it online. What form of natural and organic way have you discovered that works well in dealing with garden pests? You can leave a comment by clicking here.